ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we consider the geopolitical context within which contemporary care relationships take place. This context informs our conceptual framework on care and caring, which we have termed caringscapes. Individual care activities and experiences help to shape and are shaped by their socio-economic contexts. Trends in population, household and family composition, work and employment, income and benefits, health and illness and the funding, public policy, and provision of relevant services will have a particular impact on care. The ways in which we experience care reflects our age, gender, ethnicity, health and social status, and will be influenced by our beliefs and values about families and relationships, and hence by where and when we live. Thus, it is important to place the discussion of care and interdependence in the context of socio-economic, demographic and relevant care policy change. Living under different political regimes – in times of peace, unrest or conflict – the impact of natural and human-created disasters are all factors that have an effect on the care we give or experience (or not). Equally, changes and developments, for example, in infectious and chronic diseases, the environment and national economies, scientific knowledge and technological development, have a bearing on the shape and form of the care that we can expect to exchange.
